Authors: Sherryl Woods
“I have a lot of faith in my powers of persuasion,” he admitted, “but you’re unpredictable, so no.”
Laila stopped in her tracks. This was an unexpected twist. “You think I’m unpredictable?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I certainly never know what to expect with you.”
And with those words, Laila fell just a little bit more deeply in love with this totally inappropriate man. No one had ever described her as unpredictable before. All her life she’d heard—had thought of herself as—staid, stodgy, even dull. She was a banker, for goodness’ sakes, and before that she’d been an accountant. She thrived on making numbers add up. It wasn’t exactly a career that made for scintillating dinner conversation. A part of her had always wanted desperately to be interesting, a risk taker, unpredictable.
If Matthew O’Brien saw her as the woman she’d always dreamed of being, then maybe it really was time to stop fighting this so hard.
Susie went to the door at what had to be her brother’s knock, put on her most welcoming smile and opened the door, only to see Laila standing just behind Matthew. For a moment it didn’t make any sense.
“Laila, I had no idea you were dropping by tonight,” she said without missing a beat. “You’re just in time for dinner. I hope you can stay.”
Matthew cleared his throat. “Um, Laila’s with me, Suze.”
Susie blinked. “With you?” she repeated. When the truth dawned on her, she simply stared.
“You can close your mouth now,” Laila said wryly. “There’s no need to go into shock.”
“I’m just…I’m surprised,” Susie murmured, trying to wrap her mind around this turn of events. Matthew and
Laila?
How could that be? Laila was sensible. She was smart. She knew his track record. Surely she knew better than to put her heart on the line with Susie’s scoundrel of a brother.
Mack joined them in the foyer and she whirled on him. “You could have warned me,” she said, giving him a poke in the ribs with her elbow.
He shrugged. “I told you it wasn’t my news to share. Come on in, you two.” He kissed Laila’s cheek. “Don’t worry, the shock will wear off eventually.”
Laila eyed Susie skeptically. “You sure about that?”
Mack nodded. “Susie has amazing recuperative powers, don’t you, sweetheart?”
Susie shook herself out of a near trance. “Of course. I’m sorry. It was just so unexpected to see you standing there. Laila, why don’t you come help me in the kitchen? Matthew, you can show Mack the house plans.”
Laila cast a desperate look in Matthew’s direction, but she dutifully followed Susie.
Susie closed the kitchen door, poured a glass of wine and handed it to Laila. “When did this start?”
“A few months ago,” Laila told her, taking a sip, then quickly following with another. “We ran into each other a couple of times and got to talking. Then he asked me out, sort of a no-big-deal thing.” She blushed. “And then it turned into kind of a big deal. I thought it was just about the sex.” She winced, then swallowed the rest of the wine. “Sorry.”
“Believe me, I know all about my brother and his flings,” Susie said dismissively. “I just never thought you’d be one of them.”
“He says I’m not,” Laila told her. Her expression turned hopeful. “I’m almost starting to believe him.”
Susie regarded her with real worry, even as she poured more wine. Nothing loosened the tongue like a little alcohol, and she wanted to get to the bottom of what was really going on between these two. She loved her brother, but she cared about Laila, too.
“Laila, come on,” she chided. “You know my brother’s track record with women.”
“You mean the way you knew about Mack’s?” Laila retorted.
Susie flinched at the direct hit. “Yeah, exactly like that,” she conceded. “But Mack and I were always friends.”
“You seem to forget that I’ve known Matthew about as long as you’ve known Mack.”
“But he was just a kid for a lot of that time,” Susie argued. “In many ways, he’s still a kid.”
“Not the way I see him,” Laila said. “He’s surprisingly self-confident, focused and determined.”
Susie couldn’t deny that he’d seemed that way lately. Was that due to his relationship with Laila? Could he really be ready to settle down? Hadn’t she herself noted earlier that he seemed more sensitive, possibly due to a good female influence?
“Just don’t put your heart on the line,” Susie pleaded, unable to hide her worry. “I know my brother. So do you. He might not be ready for anything serious. And you’re not the kind of woman who does casual well. I know you’re ready for marriage, kids, the whole nine yards. You deserve a man who’s ready for that, too.”
Laila looked oddly resigned. “You’re not telling me anything I haven’t told myself,” she admitted. “I’ve tried to walk away. I’ve sent Matthew away. In fact, until today I thought this latest separation might stick.”
Susie stilled. “Until today?”
“Your dinner invitation,” she reminded Susie. “Matthew apparently saw it as the perfect excuse to turn up in my office and practically kidnap me.”
“You didn’t want to come tonight?”
“Oh, I wanted to. I just thought it was a terrible idea.”
“And now?”
“I still think it was probably a terrible idea, but I’m starting to relax.”
Susie chuckled despite herself. “Maybe that has something to do with the two glasses of wine you’ve chugged down since we came into the kitchen.”
Laila stared at the glass in her hand. “Two?”
“Yep.”
She groaned. “Now the man has driven me to drink.”
Susie shook her head. “That was probably me. Sorry. I’m all over the shock now. You know I love you, and it would be fantastic if this works out. I’m just a little worried for you.”
“Not for your brother?”
“Are you kidding? He’d be lucky to wind up with an incredible woman like you.”
Laila laughed. “First he calls me unpredictable. Now you call me incredible. I don’t know if it’s just that O’Brien charm at work, but you’re all turning my already slightly dizzy head.”
Susie linked arms with her. “Let’s go in there so I can get a better look at the two of you together. It’s going to take some getting used to before we spring this on the rest of the family.”
“I think I’d like to wait a long, long time for that one,” Laila said.
“Come on, we’re not that daunting,” Susie said, then sighed. “Okay, yes, we are, but we already love you.”
“The O’Briens are not my only concern,” Laila admitted. “Have you met Trace? My brother is amazingly overprotective when it comes to my social life, especially recently. He freaked out about the whole dating-service thing, then had a genuine conniption when he finally heard about that stalker Will had inadvertently introduced me to via Lunch by the Bay.”
Susie beamed at her. “Here’s the good news. Compared to all that, my brother is actually a paragon of virtue. Trace will probably be thrilled to turn you over to him.”
Laila stared at her for a moment, then suddenly giggled. “I may be a little loopy from the wine, but that actually makes sense to me.”
“Okay, now that you have my stamp of approval, you can return the favor by coming with me and going into raptures over my brother’s plans for my dream house on Beach Lane. Mack might be a little bit on the fence about the idea. I need you in my corner.”
“The least I can do,” Laila agreed.
But when they walked into the living room, they found Mack totally absorbed with the design as Matthew went over it with him. He glanced up at Susie and beckoned her over.
“This looks amazing to me,” he said, drawing her down beside him. “What do you think?”
She couldn’t tear her gaze away from him long enough to spare a glance for the plans. “You still want to build the house?”
“Absolutely,” he said, then frowned. “Did you think I might back out?”
“I wouldn’t blame you,” she said. “It’s a lot to be taking on right now.”
“It is,” he agreed. “But it’s an investment in our future.”
She looked toward her brother, saw Laila snuggled comfortably at his side, and concluded that a lot of future plans were coming together tonight. It was turning out to be one heck of a dinner party, with some fairly astonishing twists.
20
S
usie was standing in line at Sally’s waiting to pick up a takeout order for herself and Shanna when she spotted Mack coming through the door. The woman laughing at something he said and staring at him adoringly was Kristen. Susie recognized her from her few previous glimpses through the window at the newspaper office and one photo that had appeared in the launch edition. She was even more stunning in person.
The woman could easily have wandered straight out of the pages of a
Sports Illustrated
swimsuit issue, Susie thought with a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. One glance at the lithe, sophisticated woman and she immediately felt frumpy and small-town. If she could have ducked down behind the counter to avoid an introduction, she would have, but O’Briens simply didn’t run from their fears.
“Susie!” Mack said, his eyes lighting up when he caught sight of her. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” He dragged Kristen over. “It’s about time you two met,” he said with forced cheer. “Susie, this is Kristen Lewis.”
Kristen’s expression, which had been filled with warmth just seconds ago, seemed vaguely frozen now. “Susie, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Though the words were spoken pleasantly enough, there was no disguising her shock as she took in the scarf tied securely into a turban on Susie’s head.
“Mack raves about your work,” Susie said, injecting the words with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “The website looks fantastic, and I hear it’s getting an astonishing number of hits.”
“Thanks. I still have some fine-tuning to do, but I think it’s going to be an important component of the paper’s success,” Kristen replied. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that Mack gave me this chance. I just love working with him.”
“I’m sure he’s a great boss,” Susie said, grabbing her bag of takeout from Sally’s hand and shoving a twenty in her direction. She was already backing away from the counter. “Sorry, but I need to run. I promised Shanna I’d be back with lunch.”
Mack regarded her with disappointment. “Couldn’t you drop it off next door and then come back and join us? I’m sure Shanna wouldn’t mind.”
“Afraid not,” she said, then found herself planting a possessive kiss firmly on his lips. “See you at home later. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” he called after her.
She made her way to the bookstore with her thoughts in turmoil. Had she made a mistake not sitting down with them and observing their interaction for herself, maybe staking her claim on her husband? She chided herself for the ridiculous thought. Her ring was on his finger and his on hers. The claim was in plain view for anyone to see, if they wanted to.
At the bookstore she walked straight past Shanna, yanked out a chair in the café section and sat down, then started pulling food from the bag with jerky movements. Shanna appeared and sat across from her, regarding her warily.
“Long wait at Sally’s?” she inquired tentatively.
“Nope. Just a little unexpected encounter with my husband and his star webmaster.”
“Oh, boy!” Shanna murmured.
“I swear to God, I wanted to tear her hair out, every long, gorgeous strand of it.”
“That could just be a reaction to you being bald,” Shanna suggested hopefully.
Susie scowled at her. “No, it was a reaction to the way she looked at me, as if I were no competition at all, and the way she looked at Mack, as if he were the greatest thing since sliced bread.” Her scowl deepened. “Which he is, of course, but he’s
my
man.”
“Of course he is. How did Mack look at her?”
Susie paused in her tirade to think back. “Actually he didn’t look at her much. He was watching me, probably trying to figure out if I was going to explode or turn into some jealous shrew right before his eyes.”
“Or maybe he was looking at you because he loves you and can’t tear his gaze away from you.”
“I’m not one of those romance-novel heroines,” Susie snapped. “At least not right now. Look at me. I’m fat and bald.”
Shanna had barely picked up her sandwich, but she put it back down. “Stop that this instant!” she commanded, her gaze intense. “There’s no denying that you’re bald, but you’re far from fat. You’ve just filled in a little. You were too skinny before.”
“Nothing fits,” Susie complained. She gestured to her clothes. “Look at me. I’m wearing old jeans and a baggy T-shirt. You should have seen Kristen in her expensive linen slacks, her fancy silk blouse and a pair of stiletto heels I couldn’t wear for an hour, much less to work. She had on a gold-and-diamond bracelet that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.”
Shanna gave her a knowing look. “If you’re only worried about her outfit and her jewelry, we can go shopping tonight after work. I guarantee we can find you a few things that will put her wardrobe and accessories to shame.”
Susie sighed. “It’s not about the clothes. At least not entirely. I just feel frumpy and undesirable.” She gave Shanna a plaintive look. “Have you ever read about women who are sick and tell their husbands they want them to move on, who even try to handpick someone for them?”
Shanna gave her an amused look. “You are so not that woman,” she said.
Susie allowed herself a faint grin. “I’m not, am I? I mean, I’d want Mack to be happy if I died, but I’m much more likely to leave a list of the women he should avoid. Kristen would be at the top of the list.”
“Maybe underneath all that polish, she’s a nice woman,” Shanna suggested gently.
“No,” Susie said. “I saw the way she looked at Mack. She’d snatch him from me in a heartbeat and never look back. Now that she knows I have cancer, she probably figures she can bide her time and grab him when I’m gone.”
“Will you please stop talking about what’s going to happen when you die?” Shanna pleaded. “You’re not going to die.”
“Let’s get real,” Susie said bleakly. “The odds are not in my favor.”
“So help me, if you start thinking like that, you won’t need to worry about the odds. I’ll strangle you myself.”
Susie laughed. Maybe it was kind of a macabre humor, but being able to laugh about her situation felt good. She squeezed Shanna’s hand. “Thank you for letting me vent.”
“Anytime. You know that. Now, about that shopping—I still think we should do it. The rescheduled launch party is in a few days. You need to walk into that event feeling like a million bucks.”
“You’re probably expecting too much from a dress,” she told Shanna. “But I’m game if you have the time.”
“For shopping?” Shanna replied. “I can always find time for that. We’ll get you a party dress, and I’ll buy a million more things I don’t need for the nursery.”
“How does Kevin feel about these shopping binges of yours?”
Shanna grinned. “I doubt he’s overjoyed, but taking back half the stuff a few days later keeps him occupied and makes him feel as if he’s won. In the end, I wind up with the essentials I’d wanted in the first place.”
“Sounds like the perfect compromise,” Susie congratulated her.
“The essential ingredient in any happy marriage,” Shanna agreed. “I’ll pick you up at six-fifteen. Does that work?”
“I’ll be at the house. If I’m going on a spending spree, I’ll need to rest up this afternoon.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you tonight.”
Susie gave her friend a fierce hug. “You’re the best friend ever, and the best sounding board.”
“It’s what I’m here for.”
And thank heaven for it,
Susie thought as she walked back to the real estate management office. An hour ago she’d been having herself an excellent pity party. Now she had her perspective back and her good humor. That still didn’t mean her opinion of Kristen had changed.
Susie had barely settled behind her desk again, when her brother Luke appeared. He’d come home from college for a long weekend so he could attend Monday’s launch party for the newspaper. Like his older brother, there was rarely a party that he missed.
“I was at Sally’s a little while ago,” he announced as he perched on the corner of her desk. “Who was the hottie in there with Mack?”
Susie froze. “I assume you’re talking about Kristen,” she said, trying to keep her tone casual. “She’s his digital guru. She’s running the paper’s website.”
“Looks and brains, too,” Luke said approvingly. “I wonder if she’s dating anyone. Do you know?”
“I only met her myself earlier today. I have no idea what sort of social life she has.”
“How about an introduction?”
She regarded him impatiently. “Since when have you ever needed me to run interference for you? Besides, if you want an introduction, you’re asking the wrong person. Speak to your brother-in-law.”
Something in her voice must have alerted him that he’d hit on a sore subject. His gaze narrowed.
“Is she causing problems between you and Mack?”
“Don’t be absurd,” she said, though without much conviction.
Luke looked as if he wanted to ask more, but she cut him off before he could. “I really do not want to talk about Kristen Lewis.”
In fact, if they didn’t change the topic soon, she very well might burst into tears and totally humiliate herself. “Don’t you have someplace you need to be, Luke? Go.”
He stood up, but he looked uncertain. “Suze, are you okay? You look like you’re going to cry.”
“I am so not going to cry over that woman,” she declared fiercely. “Now, will you please get out of here.”
“I’ll beat Mack up for you,” Luke offered, perhaps a little too eagerly. “Or her, if she’s the one you’re really angry with.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think that will be necessary,” she said, smiling despite herself. Her brothers might be major nuisances 99 percent of the time, but when they came through for her that other one percent, they made her feel as special as any princess on earth.
After Luke had gone, she tried to bury herself in paperwork, but she couldn’t seem to shake the feeling she’d had for a while now that in encouraging Mack to start his own newspaper, she’d pushed him right out of her life and into someone else’s arms.
“You never told me your wife had cancer,” Kristen said, an accusing gaze directed at Mack.
Mack had been waiting for this ever since their encounter with Susie at the café, but at least Kristen had waited until they’d returned to the relative privacy of the office before bringing it up. Clearly she felt as if this were news she’d had a right to know. He didn’t see it the same way.
“Possibly because I didn’t think it was any of your business,” Mack replied. “It has nothing to do with the newspaper or our professional relationship.”
She looked as if he’d slapped her. “I thought we were friends,” she said softly, then stood up. “My mistake.”
Before he could answer, she’d grabbed her coat and headed for the door. “I’ll be back later to finish up, hopefully after you’re gone.”
Mack stared after her and uttered a curse. The day was getting better and better. He’d seen the defeated expression in Susie’s eyes earlier when he’d introduced her to Kristen. All she’d seen was a beautiful, well put-together, healthy woman, and turned it into a competition in which she fell short. Now he’d angered Kristen because she felt as if he’d deliberately left her out of the loop.
“Problems?” his brother-in-law inquired, walking into his office with a familiar, irrepressible grin on his face.
“Don’t test me, Luke. I’m not in the mood.”
“So I gathered. I heard that curse you uttered about two seconds after Kristen stormed past me as I was coming in the front door. Trouble in the news business?”
“Something like that,” Mack said, determined not to get into this with a kid who hadn’t even graduated from college yet.
“Funny thing,” Luke said casually. “My sister seems to be in a pretty foul mood, too. It must be catching.”
Mack stilled. “You’ve seen Susie?”
“I just left her office.” He studied Mack with a deceptively neutral look. “Care to explain what’s going on?”
“There is nothing going on,” Mack said.
“Okay, here’s my guess, for whatever it’s worth,” Luke said, ignoring Mack’s obvious attempt to end the topic. “The beautiful Kristen wants you. Susie’s ticked off about it. And you’re caught between a rock and a hard place, because you love my sister and you need Kristen.”
Mack regarded him with astonishment. “Not bad for an amateur. Maybe you should talk to Will about joining his practice, especially since everyone knows that your current major in history will never be put to practical use.”
Luke shrugged. “I like history. It got the school off my back.” He gave Mack a shrewd look. “So, do you want my advice, after all?”
Mack felt ridiculous accepting the offer, but he had to admit he was at a loss. Maybe a fresh perspective would help.
“Go for it,” he said reluctantly.
“Set me up with Kristen. I’ll keep her distracted. You can focus on keeping my sister happy.”
Mack was speechless. He might have expected something like this from Matthew, but Luke was still a kid. “You’re too young for Kristen,” he protested. “She’ll eat you alive.”
Luke gave him a confident grin. “Not a chance. I’ve been studying you and my brother for a long time. I’ve learned from your mistakes.”
“Mistakes?” Mack echoed quizzically.
“Trust me, you’ve both made plenty. I can hold my own with the Kristens of the world.”
Mack hid a laugh. “So this would be some sort of magnanimous gesture on your part to protect your sister, save our marriage and keep the paper operating smoothly?”
“Something like that,” Luke said. “What do you think?”
The eagerness in his eyes was what made Mack acquiesce. Every man needed a chance to play knight in shining armor from time to time. If Luke’s desire to do that saved Mack’s hide in the process, so much the better.
“Kristen won’t make it easy for you,” he warned.
“Of course not. She thinks she wants you,” Luke said. “I can persuade her she doesn’t.”
Mack studied him curiously. “And then what? Don’t you have to go back to college in a few days?”
“Graduation’s less than a month away,” Luke reminded him. “I can come home weekends till then. Don’t worry. I’m up to this. Something tells me I’ve been in training for it all through college, and that professor last semester—”